Analytical pyrolysis of simple lipids

One interesting aspect of lipid pyrolysis is the formation of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons during the pyrolysis of sterols [10a] following a series of dehydrogenation and elimination reactions. 

Analysis of lipid pyrolysates using Py-GC/MS was performed [12], but it lacked a good separation that would have shown the individual compounds. Extracted ion 

Pyrolysis studies on complex lipids were done mainly with the purpose of microorganism characterization [13]. Besides DNA and proteins, the lipids are considered valuable markers with chemotaxonomic utility for microorganisms. The association of a certain predominant lipid and a specific group of microorganisms is indicated below [13]. 

In addition, the analysis of the fatty acids in a complex lipid may provide a view of the nutritional and metabolic history of the microorganism (see also Section 16.1). Also, problems in bacterial taxonomy were solved based on fatty acid distribution, which was used as a fingerprint for different bacteria. 

Several pyrolytic techniques were utilized for the analysis of lipids, such as  

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